🇺🇸🇳🇪 US Senate rejects bid to remove troops from Niger

The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected legislation that would have forced President Joe Biden to withdraw U.S. troops from Niger.

The United States formally declared this month that there had been a military coup d'etat in Niger, which results in officially suspending assistance, but U.S. officials said there were no plans to change the U.S. troop presence in the country.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, who sponsored the legislation, argued that the troops were improperly deployed without congressional approval and said Americans should not be at risk of getting caught in the crossfire of a conflict in Niger.

Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if Americans withdraw it could leave a vacuum that could be filled by Russia or Wagner mercenaries.

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